Wanted to avoid having to have one of these hanging off the back of my A500.

I wouldn’t really call this an upgrade as such, more taking advantage of the latest developments in the Amiga scene. In case you’ve never heard of it, the ‘Gotek’ drive is basically a 3.5″ Floppy Drive emulator. Instead of putting floppy disks in it you plug in a USB flash drive that can contain up to a thousands Amiga Disk Files or ‘ADF’s’ (floppy disk images).

There are quite a few versions of these floating around on eBay, internal and external. I decided pretty early on that I wanted mine external so I could keep my A500’s DF0 as a real floppy drive so I opted for an external drive. I wanted to have the install look as authentic and neat as possible so I opted to install my Gotek inside an old external floppy disk drive that I picked up off eBay for spares/repairs. If you want to do the same just be careful to pick one that houses a regular sized floppy drive and not a reduced height, slim one as the Gotek won’t fit. You can see what I mean from the photo below which shows my finished Gotek drive underneath a couple of Roctec slim drives – it should be pretty obvious that the slim drives don’t have the necessary height to accommodate the Gotek drive.

The other choices available now include the option to have an OLED screen that can display the name of the ADF file you select and the track info and also a built in speaker that can simulate the noises of the real thing. It’s more of a buzzer than anything else but it’s pretty effective and much better than sitting in silence waiting for Cannon Fodder to load!

Close-up of Gotek Drive with OLED Screen

Boot Selector Installed in Even CIA Socket

Mounting of Selector Switch

DF0 / DF1 selector switch

]]>https://blog.lyonsden.net/2018/03/06/fitting-an-external-boot-selectable-gotek-drive-to-an-a500/feed/0lyonsden69Amiga Gotek External CablecofClose-up of Gotek Drive with OLED Screen Boot Selector Installed in Even CIA SocketMounting of Selector SwitchDF0 / DF1 selector switchSam’s Journeyhttps://blog.lyonsden.net/2018/03/05/sams-journey/
https://blog.lyonsden.net/2018/03/05/sams-journey/#respondMon, 05 Mar 2018 17:57:16 +0000http://blog.lyonsden.net/2018/03/05/sams-journey/Ordered this months ago and it finally arrived today. A brand new cartridge game in 2018 for the Commodore 64! Presentation of the box and its’ contents is fantastic – can’t wait to play it!

Sam’s Journey

Sam’s Journey Box Back

Sam’s Journey Inside the Box

]]>https://blog.lyonsden.net/2018/03/05/sams-journey/feed/0lyonsden69Sam's JourneySam's Journey Box BackSam's Journey Inside the BoxAmiga 500 Super Denise Upgradehttps://blog.lyonsden.net/2018/03/03/amiga-500-super-denise-upgrade/
https://blog.lyonsden.net/2018/03/03/amiga-500-super-denise-upgrade/#respondSat, 03 Mar 2018 13:28:49 +0000http://blog.lyonsden.net/?p=591Continue reading →]]>The A500 machines shipped with a graphics chip called ‘Denise’ that is responsible for handling sprites and also all the different screen modes and resolutions you can use with Workbench and other apps. The later Amiga 500+ model sported an updated chip called ‘Super Denise’ which offered quite a few more screenmodes and resolution options. This is a very straightforward upgrade which simply involves getting hold of the newer chip and replacing the old one with it. (It is an exact pin-for-pin replacement).

Below you can see before and after screens showing SysInfo details, and available screenmodes along with the two different Denise chips fitted. The end result is a success with more screenmodes (eg Super-Hi Res modes) available straight away, even with my standard 1084S monitor. However in order to benefit from the rest of the modes the Super Denise chip offers (such as Productivity) I need to get hold of a proper Multi-Sync monitor that can handle the different refresh rates they need.

If you ever pop a disk in your external Roctec drive and hear a strange whirring noise and can’t read any of your disks then the chances are you are suffering from a perished or broken drive belt.

Perished Drive Belt

These drives use a rubber belt to connect the drive motor to the spindle hub. The rubber belt only has a finite life and given most of these drives are getting on for 30 years old now it’s hardly surprising that they expire.

No tension in old perished belt

The good news is that it’s pretty easy to replace them and I’ll give an overview of what you need to do here. The first thing you need to do is undo the 6 screws on the underside of the drive case using a small philips screwdriver.

Remove these 6 phillips screws.

This particular drive case is made from a solid metal rectangular tube so you need to slide the floppy drive out. The aim here is to slide everything out of the BACK of the case. The first step is to gently slide the floppy drive forward out of the case far enough to detach the plastic fascia from the front of it. Unless you do this it won’t slide right into the case and out the back. There are 2 small tabs on each side of the fascia which you can gently bend with a small flat-bladed screwdriver and it will pop right off. Don’t force anything or it will break – it should come off easily.

Drive Fascia removed

Now you need to prise the back part of the drive out of the case using something thin enough to slide into the tiny gap between the case and the backplate, I found the blade of my pocket knife to be perfect for this but be careful not to injure yourself or damage the plastic/paint on your drive! Once you’ve got it moving slide it out slowly (a slight side to side wiggle can help here). It will be attached to the floppy drive via a ribbon cable so keep going until you’ve got the floppy drive out too.

Roctec floppy drive detached from controller board

The floppy drive has a thin metal cover that protects the mechanical innards and it is held in place by some little tabs on the edges and a solitary screw at the back right (when viewed from the front).

Roctec Floppy Drive Rubber Belt Path

Once the top is off you can see the drive mechanism, motors, heads and so on. You will need to carefully remove what’s left of the old belt with a pair of tweezers. Be careful not to touch the drive heads with anything metallic or you may damage them. You can see from the photo above the path the rubber belt follows is indicated by the yellow line.

Before you can begin to put the new belt on you need to remove the drive motor which is attached to a metal bracket that runs across the back of the drive. It is held in position by one screw in the far left corner and another on the right a few cm down from the corner. Don’t touch the two screws with the large flat heads either side of the motor. Be careful you don’t pull the bracket too much as there are two tiny wires connecting the motor to the circuit board here so be careful to support the bracket whilst you are handling the drive to replace the belt.

How to detach the motor and bracket

Drive motor and bracket removed

Once the bracket and motor are out of the way you can carefully thread a replacement belt around the large drive wheel, small tension wheel and keep a loop ready at the top right to go on the motor spindle. Follow the yellow path in the earlier photo and take you time as it can be a little tricky to get the belt into place. A small flat bladed screwdriver and a pair of tweezers are essential for this. Don’t forget the belt needs to thread behind the small silver pully wheel as this is what tensions the belt.

Close-up of the small tension wheel you need to thread the belt behind

Once you’ve got it threaded around the wheels correctly you need to get the final loop onto the motor spindle. It helps if you grab the loop with some needle nosed pliers here and pull it taught with one hand whilst guiding the motor spindle into the loop with the other. Once this has been achieved (it may take a few goes as it’s quite fiddly) place the bracket back in place and rotate the large drive wheel slowly and check the belt stays on, is running where it should and isn’t fouling any components. If you look carefully through the tiny gaps in the top of the drive motor you should be able to see the motor armature slowly rotating as you move the belt – if it is then you job is done. Time to put it all back together! If it isn’t then don’t fret, just double check the belt is following the correct path, isn’t twisted anywhere and hasn’t slipped off any of the wheels.

]]>https://blog.lyonsden.net/2018/03/02/repairing-a-roctec-external-amiga-floppy-drive/feed/0lyonsden69Roctec Amiga external floppy drivePerished Drive BeltcofUnderside of drive caseDrive Fascia removedRoctec floppy drive detachedRoctec Floppy Drive Rubber Belt PathHow to detach the motor and bracketDrive motor and bracket removedClose-up of the small tension wheel you need to thread the belt behindNew Commodore 64 RTS game in 2017!https://blog.lyonsden.net/2017/12/01/new-commodore-64-game-in-2017/
https://blog.lyonsden.net/2017/12/01/new-commodore-64-game-in-2017/#respondFri, 01 Dec 2017 19:56:52 +0000http://blog.lyonsden.net/2018/03/05/new-commodore-64-game-in-2017/Continue reading →]]>How cool is this? It’s like being back in the 80’s! This is a brand new Commodore 64 game that has just been released by “The 8-Bit Guy” (of YouTube fame) – on 5.25″ Floppy Disk no less! Also included is a cassette tape featuring additional music for the game.

Think this might actually be the first (and therefore only) RTS for the Commodore 64!

This time it’s the legendary Mini Cooper in proper British Racing green. This was a fun build and a bit simpler than the Ferrari I built a while back. I think the brick count was a fair bit lower too. My parents had a Mini when I was a child and I have a lot of fond memories of various days out and holidays that revolved around a family of 4 squeezing into such a little car. Building this model brought a lot of those memories back. I’m delighted with the finished product, it features opening doors, reclining seats with adjustable headrests, opening bonnet with engine bay and a boot that reveals a removable picnic basket and blanket! Highly recommended to both Lego collectors and anyone who just wants a pretty cool model Mini to display.

If, like me, you were disappointed to discover that your beautiful, highly specc’d Range Rover Sport Mk1 did not come equipped with Bluetooth Audio then I have a solution for you that will cost less than £20. Once you’ve got hold of the kit the whole job should only take you about 5 minutes.

The first thing you need to purchase is a USB car charger adaptor for your rear cigarette lighter socket. The more slimline the better, I used this one which was £5.99 at time of writing and works really well. In fact I’ve got one of these in my front power socket too!

Next you need purchase yourself this little gadget from Amazon (£8.95 at the time of writing) which is a bluetooth audio receiver and will convert your bluetooth audio back into good old analogue for your Range Rover sound system to play.

These are the 2 gizmos you need to purchase before proceeding any further…

Once they’ve arrived follow these super-easy instructions below to enjoy wireless music playing in your car.

Bluetooth Adaptor connected to Aux rear aux socket

First off you need to plug the USB adaptor into the rear passengers power socket (it hides underneath a flap on the centre armrest). Now plug the Bluetooth receiver into that USB adaptor . Finally you need to plug one end of the (supplied) auxiliary audio cable into the socket on the end of the Bluetooth adaptor and the other end into the aux socket on the back of the centre armrest, located just to the left of the power socket. That’s it for the hardware side of things, the next step is configuring your phone.

Screenshot showing Bluetooth adaptor paired.

The next stage of the install requires your backside in the drivers seat and turning on the ignition. Get your phone out and go to the ‘Add Bluetooth devices’ part of the phone settings. I have tested this with both an Android Marshmallow Galaxy S7 and an Android Nougat Huawei Mate 9 with no issues, although the settings on all phones will probably look a little different. I see no reason why this wouldn’t work for an iPhone/iPod but I don’t have access to any Apple stuff so can’t guarantee it.I’d be very surprised if you had an issue though.

Once you have got to the ‘add Bluetooth devices’ screen, make sure your bluetooth is turned on and wait for the device ‘BTR003’ to appear. This is the bluetooth adaptor – add it as a paired device (there is no pairing code) for ‘Media Audio’ ONLY and you should be good to go. Turn on your Range Rover sound system and select AUX as the input and play some music on your phone and it should come through loud and clear! I find the AUX input a little on the quiet side compared to the CD and Radio but you can easily compensate by turning the volume up on your phone and/or the sound system itself. Every time you get in your car and turn on the ignition your phone will automatically pair with the bluetooth adaptor so you should never have to mess with the settings again – it’ll just work. Your phone will still work for bluetooth handsfree calling through the car phone as that uses a separate ‘Call Audio’ bluetooth connection.

Range Rover Stereo Aux Input

Have fun and if you find a better way to do this or have any questions please contact me!

I know it’s not a perfect solution as the adaptor does stick out a few cm and if you have kids in the back it may not last long… but as it’s just me and the wife in our car I’ve not had a problem so far…

]]>https://blog.lyonsden.net/2017/02/06/adding-bluetooth-audio-to-a-range-rover-sport-mk1/feed/0lyonsden69range-rover-sport-mk1Bluetooth AdaptorAndroid Bluetooth ScreenAux InputLego Creator: Ferrari F40 Buildhttps://blog.lyonsden.net/2015/10/29/lego-creator-ferrari-f40-build/
https://blog.lyonsden.net/2015/10/29/lego-creator-ferrari-f40-build/#respondThu, 29 Oct 2015 15:00:29 +0000http://blog.lyonsden.net/?p=496Continue reading →]]>After a recent trip to the Lego Discovery centre in the Trafford Center in Manchester I noticed that they have started doing some very cool looking cars as part of their ‘Creator’ series. My wife kindly treated me to the Ferrari F40 model (after I dropped some pretty big hints that I fancied it) which I have just finished building. The box contains almost 1,200 peices of lego and took me several hours to build but given the cost of the kit I’d expect nothing less. Rather than just show pictures of the finished build I thought it might be fund to have a go at capturing the build, stop-motion style… it hasn’t turned out quite as well as I would have liked (probably didn’t take enough pictures) but here goes anyway!